What's happening on UAT's campus- A blog published by UAT Students.

2D Visuals in a 3D Game - A Look at GuiltyGearXrd's Art Style

So it should come as no surprise by now that students at this school as a whole really enjoy stylized games. There are a ton of game projects that come and go with painterly, cel-shaded, or just straight up gory art styles that add a ton of uniqueness to their appearance.

One of my personal projects has been a Varying Line Art Shader, which was created as a Student Innovation Project (sort of an amalgamation of innovative ideas and a capstone project). The intent was to replicate 2D animation styles within a 3D environment. This is a huge challenge because each medium has their own unique quirks, and in many cases they are used in tandem with each other!

https://youtu.be/OJkRmhxceok

The shader I created inside of Unreal 4 uses "Custom Depth", a value which looks at how far away each pixel is in 3D space from the camera, to calculate where the edges would be and how large those outlines are. There are a ton of other ways to create outlines, though. The devs of GuiltyGearXrd showed off their talents in stylized rendering during a presentation at GDC! I definitely encourage you to check it out below, there's a ton of cool advice and ideas on how to really create amazing looking games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhGjCzxJV3E

It's definitely exciting to see those improvements not only in photo-realistic rendering, but also in stylistic rendering! There are countless possibilities!

About Us

The University of Advancing Technology is the technophile's college experience—a community uniquely suited to provide students passionate about technology an ideal place to live and grow. UAT is a private and family-owned University that merges the values of the traditional academy with the modern technology campus, a fusion that enhances our ability to fulfill the mission of educating students in the fields of advancing technology who innovate for our future.